Juicy Crimes with Heather McDonald

Episode: Unsolved Mysteries of JonBenet and Madeleine McCann

Original Release: February 18, 2026
Host: Heather McDonald
Guest: Kate Casey (Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast)

Overview

This episode of Juicy Crimes takes a lighter (but still thoughtful) approach to true crime, focusing on some of the most captivating unsolved mysteries, including the cases of JonBenet Ramsey and Madeleine McCann. With guest Kate Casey, Heather McDonald navigates these famous cases, the culture around them, and broadens the discussion to topics like Olympic scandals, parenting in the spotlight, the effects of media, and the subtle traumas experienced by the families (and siblings) of victims. Throughout, Heather and Kate keep a conversational, empathetic tone, blending personal anecdotes, pop culture references, and memorable insights.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Olympic Ice Skating, Scandal, and Pop Culture

[01:17–19:18]

• Olympics & Ice Skating Craze:
  • Kate observes: "For three years and 10 months, no one talks about ice skating. And then the Olympics come and suddenly everybody’s an expert..." (01:59)
  • Discussion about famous pair skaters, their real-life dramas, iconic movies like "Ice Castles," and how skating pairs’ relationships are spun into spectacle by media and fans.
• Scandal in the Rinks:
  • Recounting the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic ice dancing scandal involving vote swapping, a French judge, and how both Russian and Canadian teams were ultimately awarded gold.
  • "If you watched it live, you thought, oh my God, they won. Absolutely. And then it emerged that this French judge…admitted that she was pressured... because there was some sort of vote swapping deal..."—Kate (06:39)
• Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan Recap:
  • Revisiting the notorious attack on Nancy Kerrigan, the complex socioeconomic backgrounds of both skaters, and how the movie "I, Tonya" reframed Tonya Harding’s story.
  • "To this day, [Tonya] says, I did not know my husband was working with this other man to do this essentially for me. And I had no idea."—Heather (13:51)
  • The intense media and public reaction, particularly regarding Nancy Kerrigan’s post-Olympics "dumb and corny" Disneyland comment and media expectations of gratitude.
• Cultural Impact of Olympic Scandal:
  • Exploration of personal pride and family connections to the Olympics, and musings about nationalistic bias in judging and the possibility of behind-the-scenes deals affecting outcomes ("Of course there could be bribing and scandal and bias, blackmail and whatever…just so you win the medals…"—Heather, 08:20).

2. The Accutane Case: Tragedy, Parenting, and Medication

[19:50–26:08]

• Synopsis of 48 Hours Mystery Case:
  • A tragic teen shooting involving Accutane, the depression it may have triggered, and discussions about access to firearms in homes with mental health risks.
  • "He begged his mom for a gun...She gave the 17-year-old a gun...Then he...whips out his gun and shoots his two friends in the head. I mean, it was just so weird."—Heather (20:14)
• Debating Accutane’s Role:
  • Acknowledging rare but documented side effects, and how singular, dramatic cases can alter public and personal perceptions of a medication.
  • "Once you hear a case like this, it can never shift your skepticism about something…because of it, I will never disentangle this story from someone using Accutane."—Kate (24:00)
• Parenting & Safety:
  • The challenge of parenting in the face of social pressures, safety concerns, and sons’ desires for grown-up privileges ("But then it's like, well, everybody else is doing it...And it's like, then you're that mom that has to tell your son no…"—Heather, 25:58).

3. Ponzi Schemes, Scammers, and American Greed

[26:09–32:49]

• The Alan Stanford $7 Billion Ponzi Scheme:
  • Kate details Stanford’s rise from small-town Texan to Antiguan "Sir" and cricket tycoon, ultimately revealed as a massive fraudster.
  • "He gets knighted there...and he insists that everyone calls him Sir Alan Stanford now that he's been knighted. Like one of these people."—Kate (27:09)
  • Family intrigue: Stanford's "baby mama trust," multiple secret children, and a wife embroiled in his schemes.
• Culture of the Scam Artist:
  • Beverly Hills, Bernie Madoff, and the question of how scammers sleep at night.
  • "How does...someone sleep? I mean, I would be...I just had a nightmare that I was back in school and had a paper due. So I can't even imagine that you could just walk around."—Heather (31:31)
  • The psychology of charm and betrayal in white-collar crime, the impact on spouses, and questions of complicity.

4. Madeleine McCann: Parenting, Grief, and Enduring Mystery

[32:49–47:44]

• The Disappearance Review:
  • Recap of the 2007 case: young British girl goes missing from a vacation resort while parents dined nearby. The recurring waves of suspicion, accusation (including toward the parents), and the impact of sensational worldwide attention.
• New Theories and Suspects:
  • Germany’s Christian Brückner emerges as a compelling suspect ("I think she was taken by a man by the name of Christian Brückner, who had been staying at a property nearby..."—Kate, 35:35), but with no confession.
• Parenting Reflections & Societal Shifts:
  • Heather and Kate reflect on how this case shifted people's comfort about child safety while vacationing; now, leaving kids alone, even with baby monitors, is unthinkable.
  • Empathetic analysis not only of parents’ grief, but also the impact on siblings—trauma's "long tail": "Can you imagine being the other kids in that family? ...and now those younger kids are obviously at an age to research anything they want."—Heather (42:01)
• Pop Culture Sidebar:
  • The phenomenon of shows like "What Would You Do?", public reaction, and the dangers (and necessity) of bystander intervention.

5. Grief in the Media Age & Sibling Trauma

[47:45–56:38]

• Handling Grief Publicly:
  • Discussion of how public figures navigate anniversaries of loss and social media expectations: "Do I keep doing it every year? ...You do it for what you need."—Heather (57:19)
  • Elizabeth Edwards' book, the importance of asking bereaved people about their lost loved ones instead of avoiding the topic: "If someone is posting about the anniversary of someone’s birthday or a moment, we should be celebrating that and letting people lean into that, because that’s what they want."—Kate (61:54)
• Sibling Survivors:
  • From Bethenny Frankel’s ex-husband’s experience to Southern Charm’s Austin, the episode emphasizes how the siblings of missing or murdered children shoulder unique burdens and expectations (51:45–53:54).

6. JonBenet Ramsey: Enduring Questions, Pageants & Media

[63:11–76:26]

• Pageantry and the JonBenet Effect:
  • Case changed public perceptions of child pageantry—"This case made me never understand why anybody moving forward wouldn’t put their children in pageants. 100%. It just totally shifted the way it was after this."—Kate (63:15)
  • Personal anecdotes about pageant culture, expense, and the media explosion of "Toddlers & Tiaras."
• Theories & Evidence:
  • Both reflect on the remaining mysteries:
    • "I think it was a stranger that knew enough about their family and went to take or wanted to kidnap her ... and then panicked and left her there when the note was already out and didn't take back the note…"—Heather (72:48)
    • Kate: "I cover so many [cases] where we revisit cases and the lens changes decade to decade...I’m hopeful that we will actually eventually have some sort of answer." (75:21)
  • Ongoing impact: True crime’s role in community-building, a sense of collective detective work, and the media’s relationship to tragedy ("...if this is your tragedy, it's like, well, we still want to find your child's killer, but we're going to bring it up again and we're going to do a salacious headline because that way we get the clicks…"—Heather, 69:10).

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Olympic Fandom:
  "For three years and 10 months, no one talks about ice skating. And then the Olympics come and suddenly everybody's an expert and so fired up and so emotional."
  — Kate Casey [01:59]
• On True Crime & Human Nature:
  "Every episode is a reminder that even in our darkest moments, we're never really alone."
  — Heather McDonald [00:00]
• On the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Scandal:
  "To this day, [Tonya] says, I did not know my husband was working with this other man to do this essentially for me. And I had no idea."
  — Heather McDonald [13:51]
• On Medical Side Effects and Public Perception:
  "Once you hear a case like this, it can never shift your skepticism about something...because of it, I will never disentangle this story from someone using Accutane."
  — Kate Casey [24:00]
• On Parenting, Vacation, and Madeleine McCann:
  "I think [the McCann case] shifted forever the way people thought about going on vacation with children."
  — Kate Casey [36:01]
• On Children Left in Cars:
  "You hear one of those stories and you think about it, every time you're in a parking lot for the rest of your life, you're looking around...You can't unthink something once it's out there."
  — Kate Casey [45:02]
• On Grief & Remembrance:
  "If someone is posting about the anniversary of someone’s birthday or a moment, we should be celebrating that and letting people lean into that, because that’s what they want."
  — Kate Casey [61:54]
• On JonBenet and Public Fascination:
  "I feel like it's like our JFK. Yeah. Like, we're never gonna get an answer."
  — Kate Casey [68:24]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:17–11:00]: Skating culture and Olympic scandals
• [11:15–14:41]: Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan case deep dive
• [19:50–26:08]: Accutane, mental health, and gun safety case
• [26:09–32:49]: The Stanford Ponzi scheme and scam culture
• [32:49–47:44]: The disappearance of Madeleine McCann & public reactions
• [47:45–56:38]: Grief, siblings, and social media mourning
• [63:11–76:26]: JonBenet Ramsey mystery, theories, and pop culture aftermath

Tone and Style

Heather and Kate balance a conversational, often humorous, sometimes poignant tone. They move fluidly from pop-culture tangents to serious true crime discussion, always anchoring their commentary in empathy and real-life reflection. The episode is as much about the emotional aftershocks of crime as the facts themselves.

Final Thoughts

This episode weaves together famous unsolved mysteries, the cultural landscape they influenced, and the very human stories of the people left behind. It serves as both a nostalgic look back and a relevant reflection on how we consume, and sometimes live, true crime—reminding us of the weight such stories carry for those directly affected.